What happened to the Baseball Stadium in Hardeeville (Another Lie)

I think it’s funny how yet another Hardeeville-area development has been promised, given much publicity, and then quietly forgotten as its developer prepares to flip it to make another buck.

I’m talking about the Exit 8 baseball diamond and ice skating arena, which would have been a great idea but looks to have gone the way of the butterfly kingdom dodo. In other words, we’ve been lied to again.

It’s a joke when developers can do this – get all this publicity, fight for help from local governments, then flip it to some northern developer to build whatever they ultimately build.

A baseball diamond at Exit 8 would be wonderful – a Double-A team is not out of the question – but with its current development team in place, and town officials seemingly unable or unwilling to work with that developer, it’s as much a silly pie in the sky as that joke of a butterfly kingdom.

I believe nothing from developers anymore. They’ll build condos, townhouses and single-family homes. They’ll build commercial buildings that look like all other commercial buildings. But nothing entertaining will happen, aside from Bluffton’s movie theater, without quality developers in place.

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for
following agreed-upon rules of civility. Posts and
comments do not reflect the views of this site. Posts and comments are
automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some
comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules,
click the "Flag as offensive" link below the comment.

Buzz, do you have some inside information to the effect that the project is dead? Do you have some inside information on the negotiations between the developer and Hardeeville?

Is Hardeeville completely receptive to the idea and willing to do what it takes to bring to fruition a $250,000,000 commercial project like this? Does Hardeeville understand why a project like this is more important than just "housing"? C'mon, share your inside info with us all.

You've called the Developer a liar, so you must know something. Did the developer flip the property? Tell all please!

We need POSITIVE facts here and not just a hyperbolized, off the cuff, comment.

I didn't realize so much had been planned or promised for Hardeeville. I heard only recently about the Butterfly Kingom complex which sounded huge, Imax theater, shopping mall areas, etc. I thought it was a more humble, education-science oriented, butterfly thing when I first heard of it.

But there was this much more planned: a water park, ice-skating arena, shopping mall, minor league baseball, a Disney park? aack! Forgive me if this is offensive, as I don't know all the details, but this all sounds a little scary, in an Orlando/Myrtle beach sort of way.

The scale of these things would be a concern to me, and their cost to local residents. It might be acceptable if the developers were to foot the bill for accompanying infrastructure requirements, design and integrate it well, etc. NOT turn it into Orlando....the town that ate Florida.

But maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're saying and that you're seeing developers promising all of these amenties in order to get their projects approved; then selling/flipping the approved projects to another company who drops off the amenities that helped garner the project's approval to begin with?

Boy would that not be a surprise. They started doing it for 8-10 years ever since the boom here got rolling full steam. It makes me wish there could be "flipping clause" in the approval process, that requires the project to expire or go back through some re-review once flipped.

They had originally intended one of those three-hours-away welcome centers. There's one almost like it in Ocala, if you've been there, alljoygal. I went down for a story a LONG time ago, and it wasn't so bad - basically a gas station-like building with toys, brochures and reservation desks. But I agree that's not something we'd necessarily like tourists to first see when they get off the interstate.

PS: "get all this publicity, fight for help from local governments, then flip it to some northern developer to build"

Aren't most of the developers in the area national or even multi-national corporations? I'm thinking of Union Bag..... I mean International Paper.

I wish more of them were more local, and who would then be living with their creations, not the contractor type of people, but the BIG guys, the CEO's, who get to go home to their unspoiled views, or private islands, after wreaking havoc in someone else's yard.

Are you talking about the minor league (or was it semi-pro?) team that Bluffton High Principal Mama Bush told to "go fly a kite" when they wanted to use the HS baseball stadium for games until their stadium was built? These guys set up their headquarters in Bluffton and everything, just to get poo-pooed by the town later on.

No, it has never been formally floated - certainly it has never been made public - that the Coastal Plain League was interested in the Exit 8 baseball/ice complex. Instead, the developer of that property proposed some time ago that the complex could or would - I won't split that hair - someday house a minor league hockey team and minor league baseball team.

I have not been involved in that project, obviously, since I left Hardeeville, so I plead ignorant as to its current state. That said, the CPL was not involved in discussions with the Ice-Plus Properties prior to September, which is as far as I can take this blog. I do NOT know Ice-Plus' current status.

IMHO that's what happens when people "hear" through the grape vine that "something is coming". Remember a semi-pro team was supposed to come right here to Bluffton. What about all those articles done by the IP about a company that was the cutting edge of technology and was going to bring much needed tech jonbs to the area. The company name was Databuilt. Anyone remember what happened with that?

We complain about traffic and infrastructure that obviously our county didn't plan for and can't handle yet we cry for more. Makes no sense to me.

Ummm yourself, Oldguard. This is a topic that should be of much more interest than it seems to be. Why isn't it? Maybe because developers blog too, and so do politicians and other local players and maybe it's not really in their interests to get a real discussion going.

OW - I think we may be talking about 2 different baseball teams. The one I'm referring to (that mama Bush told to get lost) was some kind of a "professional" team (southern league maybe?) and not a minor league team. And from what I understand, they talked about building the stadium right here in Bluffton somewhere off of 278. -I think the land across from Eagles Point was mentioned at one point.
If so, what a traffic disaster THAT would have been!

I meant nothing by that. I was just making sure that you actually understood "which" Exit 8 we were talking about. I obviously misread your headline as a question, rather than sarcasm. Must have been those darn question marks. ;) lol

that the ice rink project would be a great addition. The traffic would not be that bad because of the access to I95. And it would not create traffic on a daily basis unlike housing and condominium complexes. BUT IT WOULD BRING REVENUE AND JOBS TO AN AREA IN DESPERATE NEED.
Do not close your mind to "outside the box" ideas. Not all growth is bad!

**DISCLAIMER: None of my comments are meant to intentionally offend. Please take into consideration that I am human and I do not know what may offend everyone.